The Twelve Days of Christmas
by Another Lone Ranger
Summary: AU(completed)Due to a bet gone awry, Kagome has until Christmas Eve to get Inuyasha into the Christmas spirit...easier said than done when your dealing with the world's most narotic mall "north pole" staff (IK(MS)
1. Take 1

**A/N:** Okay, this is my first attempt at a holiday-orientated story, but the idea just latched on to my brain, and I couldn't let it go. Both of my lovely assistants (Otherwise known as Jazz the Wolf Demon and Rogue Pryde) told me that it was a good concept, so I went ahead. I'm not exactly sure how long it will be--either three or four really long chapters, over several smaller ones. I think I'll go smaller because it's easier to update that way. Anyway, it's my first Inuyasha story in a while, and I hope you all like it. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha, never have and never will. I just hope that I can emotionally scar him at least once in the course of my life.

* * *

The Twelve Days of Christmas

* * *

On Christmas Eve, when he was eight years old, he lost his parents.

That was when he stopped believing in Santa Claus.

Ten years after that, he escaped his banishment in foster care in favor of a scholarship to art school. He stayed in the dorms at Christmas.

Five years after that, he graduated from college and got a good paying job at a prestigious design firm. He worked through Christmas.

A year after that, he was fired for having an affair with a married co-worker... After getting caught by her husband in the break room, in a very awkward situation. He wouldn't be getting that Christmas bonus.

Presently, he sat in his car. The heater was going full blast, even though he was parked. The windows were fogging white, but it made little contrast from the white that surrounded him outside. Snow had started falling over a week ago, and with less than two weeks until Christmas, it was no surprise that the scenery only intensified the rush of shoppers who passed by his car to get into the mall.

There was a moment where he fantasized about throwing the car into gear and slamming the gas pedal just hard enough to ram through the plate glass windows of the entrance way painted with trees and elves and fake snow, but his current financial situation held him back. He didn't have the money to pay damages.

Unless, of course, he fled the country before he was caught...

It was an idea.

The scenarios dancing in his head like sugar plums were halted abruptly when the watch on his wrist started beeping. The five minute mark. He had to get out of his car, his safe haven, and walk into that cesspool of holiday cheer. A shiver worked it's way down his spine at the sheer thought, but he did it. Why? Greed could overcome most things, that and the fear of spending the beginning of the New Year in a refrigerator box.

With a heavy sigh, he exited the car and walked toward the mall. Past the stores that were hung with balls and holly, past the shoppers filled with glee, past all the things that made him want to hurl, he walked toward the back locker room to clock in and to change. Why? Because he was an employee of this mall.

Oh, how the proud hath fallen.

Locker #27 loomed at him like an angry monster ready to swallow him whole. Granted, he knew there was no such thing as monsters and, at the age of 24, was perfectly capable of repressing such thoughts, but at the same time, he needed something negative to fixate on so that it could keep his pessimistic mood burning strong.

He undid the combination and reached inside, pulling out the clothes within even as he stripped away the outer layer of what he wore. The red fleece was cold at first, but quickly warmed against his skin. He removed his favorite blue knit hat in favor of the one that went with his outfit. The boots, the pants, and the belt quickly followed.

Finally, he opened the long locker door all the way, exposing the full length mirror that hung on the inside. He looked at it. Santa Claus looked back at him. Every time he saw that, a little bit more of his sanity died.

"Lookin' good!" a voice said from behind him. Whirling, the pseudo -Santa sighed upon seeing who entered the locker room. A young boy, maybe sixteen at the most, with a head of messy red hair and a pair of laughing green eyes walked to the locker three down from his own. The boy couldn't keep the smile from his face.

"I'm not in the mood for your crap, Shippou," the imposter growled, pulling on the lapels of his jacket and narrowing gold eyes at his fellow mall worker.

"I see you've channeled your inner Santa," Shippou responded, opening his locker and shedding his mittens. "I was up on the floor before coming to change," he said easily, pulling on the red and green pants from his locker. "Sango's looking for you."

"Oh, for the love of... What I do now?"

Shippou shrugged. "I dunno," the boy responded, donning his curled shoes. "She's just going nuts today because she's running low on film and had to send Miroku to get more. She's scared he won't find his way back."

"I can only wish..."

"God Inuyasha," Shippou sighed. "As a Santa, you suck."

"Thank you!" Inuyasha responded with a smirk, bowing to the elf-boy with little enthusiasm. "At least someone has a brain on this set."

"Hey, you're the one who took the job," Shippou pointed out. "So you had to have needed the cash. Don't be a bitter Christmas Spirit."

Inuyasha just frowned at the boy. "You're jingle bell is tilted."

"It is?" Shippou quickly removed his hat to look at the bell, but it was fine. Looking back up, he saw that Inuyasha was gone from the locker room. The boy only shook his head and replaced his hat. "Total victory," he said to himself, closing his locker and heading up toward the set.

-------------------------------------------

"Deck the halls with balls of holly, falalalala, lalalala."

"No! Sing Rudolph!"

"Yeah, sing Rudolph!!"

"Rudolph? Are you sure? It would be better if he was actually here if I were going to sing his song...."

A pretty elf-girl stood in the center of six very rambunctious children who were waiting on line to see Santa Claus. Santa seemed to be MIA, so the Head Elf took it upon herself to jump into the mix and entertain the impatient children. That was what she was paid for, and more than that, it's what she loved.

"How about I sing the Twelve Days of Christmas? Rudolph should be getting back here any minute now, and when he does, then I promise to sing his song."

"Promise?" asked one freckled little girl who was missing both of her front teeth.

The elf-girl removed her jingle-bell hat from her head of raven hair, and held it over her heart. "On my love of Christmas," she vowed. And any child knew that such a vow was to be taken very seriously. The children agreed and so the pretty elf-girl began singing.

"On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pair tree..."

Meanwhile, across the set, a very agitated photographer paced back and forth in front of her camera. Her Santa Claus was already...she had to consult her watch for the millionth time before calculating the exact time...23 seconds late! Christmas was ruined! She'd never be able to show her face again! Outraged ten-year-olds would tear down her set!

No, wait, the set would be fine. Kagome was working today. She always knew how to handle the kids. Letting out a calming breath, Sango collected herself. As long as Kagome was here, it wouldn't all go completely to hell in a hand basket. Speaking of which, she looked up and over to the girl, and was relieved to see the quick-thinking head-elf had already taken charge.

Now, if only Rudolph would hurry back with that film...If only Santa would get his fat ass into that chair...if only the next twelve days would go perfect...

"Shippou said you were looking for me," a voice said tonelessly from behind her.

"Inuyasha!" Sango nearly yelled when she turned to see him. "You're....45 seconds late! Do you know what could have happened?!"

"In less than a minute?"

"Children can destroy anything in thirty seconds! Don't you know that!?"

"Uh..."

"Oh my head," she sighed, rubbing her temples. "Just go sit in the chair and _try_ to act jolly."

"But can't I be the anti-Santa? Think about it, we'll be the only mall in the country to have a psycho St. Nick talking to Children about the wonders of converting to Islam."

"Chair. _Now_!"

"Will do, boss."

Sango took a few more deep breaths, then took two aspirin to combat her on-coming migraine, and settled in for another fun-filled day of work in the Mall's "North Pole".

Shippou arrived a few minutes later to help out Kagome with the waiting kids. Being a kid himself made it easy for him to relate. They handed out candy canes and cheered up the kids who were scared. The elves were always the good ones.

Now, Santa Clause leaved a little to desire. Yes, he asked the children all the right questions and he played the part, but he had no enjoyment of it, and that radiated through his performance. Somehow, a depressed Santa was not the kind of Santa you wanted to tell your wish to.

And where the hell was Rudolph!?

--------------------------------------------

"So how about it, cutie? You, me? I know for a fact that Santa's leaving his sleigh at nine pm, sharp."

The deadpan cashier handed the bag and receipt over with a bland look. "Have a nice day sir," was all she said before moving on to the next person.

Miroku sighed and shoved the receipt in the bag with the extra film that he had been sent out to buy. Why Sango, who had more film in her bag than most movie studios, needed more was beyond him. He just thought it would be a nice gesture to offer and get her more, in order to stop the panic attack that had nearly overtaken her minutes before their shifts began.

And if he can make the sacrifice of finding himself a good date for this oh-so-lonely night, then he will be that kind of self-less man.

As he walked back toward the part of the mall that he worked in, he looked around. Lights were hung everywhere. Garlands hung from the corners and wreaths were nailed to the walls. All the prices were being slashed for the home stretch of Christmas shopping.

Oh, how he'd like to tear off the stupid reindeer costume he had been reduced to wearing, but alas, a gentleman does not go back on his word. And he gave his word to Kagome that he'd work this job until Christmas.

Damn that girl...she never lost a bet in her life!

As he walked past the music store, snuggled right between the Old Navy and the Rainbow shoppe for girls, memories came back to him with that common rush of nostalgia and fogged edge of drunkenness. College. That had been his golden time. He had been the "big man on campus", for more than one reason, too!

He had been a junior when he met Kagome, a pint-sized music-major freshman beauty, a year younger than the rest of her class due to the fact that she had skipped an elementary grade. Killer legs, a pretty face, huge blue eyes, and a brain. She was the kind of girl a guy would marry. Still, he wasted no time in attempting to seduce her. Naturally, she turned him down. Her reason for being there was purely academic.

He would flirt with her when he saw her, but after the initial rejection, he moved on to more willing prey.

Then, one night about a month after orientation, he met her at a party. More than a little blitzed, he hit on her again. Instead of a costmary violent action, she simply smiled and challenged him to a drinking game.

"If I win," she had told him, "you'll walk me to and from class, every day for a week. If you win, I'll go to an empty bedroom with you."

What man could resist such odds?

No one could believe that this seventeen-going-on-eighteen-year-old freshman could compete against Miroku in a drinking game, but after twenty-some shots of high quality rot-guy, Miroku was on the floor and Kagome was asking for more.

She had neglected to tell him that she had a very high alcohol tolerance--she held the drinking record in her high school for two years in a row.

As per their agreement, Miroku walked her to and from class every day for a week, but he had no idea why. So he asked her, and she told him a strange answer. "I enjoy your presence."

Now, in his experience with women, he had been told many things. But he had never met a woman who had enjoyed his company for more than a few romps in the sheets, or the occasional party. Kagome was just...special. She was the kind of girl that you could share a meal with and not try to whisk back to your apartment, the kind of girl who could sit through an entire movie with you without making out and you'd still leave happy.

Kagome was one of those people you could talk to about anything. And he did. That was why, even after three years, she was still his best friend.

So when she had come to him some weeks before and asked him for a huge favor, he didn't think about saying no. Until the reindeer suit was presented to him. Then he began to doubt.

But he gave Kagome his word, and as long as he would live, no matter how much havoc this would wreak on his social life, he never broke his word. Least of all to one of the only people that held faith in him.

When he got back to the "North Pole", Santa was on his sleigh with a child on each knee. Miroku had to smirk.

From his few locker room interactions with Inuyasha, he knew the man couldn't stand being a mall Santa, but he never would explain why he was there. Then again, they all had their reasons. He knew Kagome's, and his own, but who's story he really wanted to know was the one that belonged to the lovely photographer who sent him on his goose chase.

Sango stood behind her camera, telling everyone to smile, then clinking off another stunning photo after another. Her long brown hair was piled on her head, and it amused him to see that it was pinned there not by sticks, but by candy canes. She was the only one of their team not in a costume--unless you counted the red and green vest and bow tie. It just made her stick out among the penguins and the polar bears.

"He's back! He's back!" a few of the children on line chanted.

Looking over, Miroku saw a few of them pointing. Kagome was with them, having sent Shippou off to grab some more candy canes from the stock room. When she saw him, she smiled and waved him over. Miroku adjusted his red nose, then the antler headband that was nestled in his hair, then strutted over.

"Did someone call for Rudolph?" he asked when he got over there.

"Hello there Rudolph!" Kagome grinned. "I promised the kids here that when you got back, I'd sing your song!"

"Did you now? Well then, can't disappoint them, can we Miss Elf?"

"Nope!" she beamed. "Ready kids?"

"Yes!" they chanted.

"You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen, but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all..."

---------------------------------------

"Here's your film," Kagome said, dropping the paper bag on to the small desk next to Sango's camera equipment. "Miroku is over with the kids so I could have a semi-break."

"That was quick-thinking with the carols," Sango praised, clicking off a few pictures as she spoke. "I'm really glad you came back this year. I'd be so lost without you."

"I've been here for four years, I'm not going anywhere," Kagome grinned as she took a seat in the canvas chair by the desk, resting her curly-shoed foot. "Oh man, it's really busy today!"

"Only twelve more days until Christmas Eve," Sango reminded. "Of course it'll be busy."

"Do you always have to be rational?"

"Do you always have to be cheerful?"

"Well, I am an elf," Kagome said haughtily.

"Not just any elf," Sango pointed out. "You are the Head Elf."

Kagome bowed in the chair. "Thank you, my adoring fans." Sango only grunted and reloaded her camera. Kagome caught a glimpse inside of the film bag on the desk and sighed. It was filled to the brim. "Why did you need more film?"

"You can never be too prepared," Sango responded. "If tomorrow is as busy as it is today, I'll need that."

"But you could have gotten it after work, or even tomorrow morning," Kagome reasoned. "I don't understand it. You're so OCD."

"I do not have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and you shouldn't make fun of those who do."

"Sorry mom," Kagome muttered.

Sango sighed, annoyed. "Get off my back Kagome, I'm under a lot of stress right now."

"I know, I know," the elf-girl responded with a frown. "I'm sorry. But it's not good for you to burn yourself out like this. It's almost Christmas, you should relax more!"

"I can't relax," Sango whispered, looking into the viewfinder of her camera and expertly taking a few more photos. "If I relax, I get nothing done."

Suddenly, there was a raised voice from by the line of waiting children. Kagome turned her head just in time to see Miroku get slugged by a rather burly looking woman, and falling straight into one of the penguin animatrons. She winced for him and got up. Shippou got to him first and waved over that it would be ok.

Sango laughed as she looked over. Kagome looked up at that. It was rare for Sango to laugh, though she seemed to do it a lot where Miroku was concerned. Kagome had to agree. Miroku was her best friend for that very reason. No matter what was wrong, he could always cheer you up, even if it's by accident.

"I bet he was hitting on one of the mothers again," Sango commented with a smile, turning back to her camera.

"Probably," Kagome agreed, leaning back in her chair and looking at the kids with their fake Santa.

And then she was hit by a perfectly devious idea.

It happened sometimes, when Kagome wasn't paying attention. Her mind would suddenly converge on something and a small "ding" would go off in her head, and she would get an idea that was both devious and brilliant. This was one of those moments.

"Hey Sango," the elf-girl called.

"Hmm?" The photographer answered.

"Let me make a bet with you."

"It depends," she answered, looking up from her work. "What kind of bet?"

"Don't you trust me?"

Sango narrowed her brown eyes. "No."

"Aww, I'm hurt!" Kagome laughed, getting up and poking her friend in the side. "Come on."

"Ok ok," Sango giggled. She regretted ever telling Kagome that she was ticklish on her ribcage, but that was last New Year's and she was half-drunk.

"I bet you that Miroku won't hit on another Mother until after lunch."

Sango opened her mouth, then closed it and shook her head. "Do you really want to bet that?"

"He has some morals!"

"About as much as the robotic penguin," Sango pointed out. "I'll take that bet!"

"What are your terms?"

"What are yours?" she shot back.

"If I win, you'll be playing a few reindeer games after work until Christmas," Kagome laughed. Both of them looked over at Miroku, who was on his feet and playing with a few small kids, but really flirting with their mother. Sango raised an eyebrow and looked to the elf-girl. She only smiled back at the photographer.

"Fine," she said with a sniff. "But if I win..." Sango wracked her brain for a most devious idea, but had to take a picture before she had come up with anything diabolical enough. Looking through the viewfinder, she noticed Inuyasha scowled the second after the picture was taken.

That's when Sango was hit by one of those same devious ideas that Kagome was costume to. Perhaps it was more of a female thing then a selective action. Either way, Sango grinned like the Grinch the night he stole Christmas.

Here was Kagome, the epitome of everything Christmas Spirit. She was sweeter than a candy cane, as chipper as any of Santa's elves, and an obsessive joy-spreader. Christmas was her favorite time of year, and she positively radiated it.

Here was Inuyasha, all Christmas-haters embodied into one very bitter pseudo-Santa. He scowled, he was annoyed with children, and he made it a point to spread his misery. He was the opposite of everything Kagome stood for.

It was so very, very bad to be thinking what she was, but far be it she deny something as beautiful as them destroying each other in a fit of holiday ego.

"If I win, you have until Christmas to make our Inuyasha into Santa Claus."

"What?!"

"I said, I'll give you until Christmas Eve to infuse our anti-Christmas Santa with the Spirit of Christmas."

"That's insane!" Kagome argued. "No one can make that guy like Christmas, not if I were the Spirit myself."

"Then let's hope you win," Sango laughed.

"But what if I can't make him Christmassy in twelve days, then what?"

"Then I'll think of something else," the photographer said simply. "But that's my term, and you've placed your bet."

Kagome winced. "Oh no..."

A few seconds later, a loud thwack cut the momentarily carol-less mall air. A moment after that a loud thud, like a body landing on fake snow and crushing empty boxes, followed. The elf-girl looked behind her and saw her best friend sprawled out on the floor, the mother he was flirting with cracking her knuckles, and Shippou shaking his head in disgust.

Sango laughed as Kagome looked back at her. "Congratulations Kagome," she said with a grin. "You've got twelve days until Christmas. Good luck with Inuyasha."

* * *

**A/N:** Muhahah! This is the beginning of my new Holiday spectacular. Review to tell me whether I should continue or not. I've got a few really good ideas for this--it'll be funny! Please…Come on!…please? 


	2. Take 2

**A/N:** Ok, I decided to keep going with this thanks to the wonderful responses from my avid readers. I think this will be a fun story, so stick around! (Happy December everyone!)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters there in, but I do own a bottle of sparkling cider and some fish crackers (food of the gods) which are assisting me in the writing process.

* * *

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Take 2

* * *

People came and went, nameless children whose eyes were alight with the very same Christmas joy and spirit that her own used to fill with at the prospect of meeting_ the _Santa Claus. Of course, they didn't know he was fake, or that he hated Christmas. But she did, and now she had the task of infusing him with the same raw spirit that burned brightly in the eyes of the children that came to him for help with their holiday scheming.

By the end of the day, she still had no idea what she was going to say to him. She had no idea what she was going to do. This was not the way the plan was supposed to go! Oh, it was so unfair that Sango would pick something so devious as forcing her to stand more than a few rare moments in Inuyasha's company. It wasn't right!

Her father would say that it was just another one of life's challenges. He was full of philosophical shit like that, always telling her that Life never gave anything to someone who couldn't handle it. So all the burdens and all the blame and all the bad things that had been lumped upon Kagome's shoulders was just a test of Life. Well, she never did believe her father, she only listened because she loved him. And then he died.

And that was that.

Kagome shook her head free from thoughts of her father as Shippou helped her clean up for the night. Most of the shops in the mall were closing down as well, marking an end to one of the valuable shopping days left until Christmas.

"Hey Kagome?" Shippou called, carrying a half-empty box of candy canes. "Do you want me to walk you home tonight? Can't have you getting mugged or something."

Kagome smiled. "Sure, I'd like that. I'll go get changed and meet you up here."

"I'll be waiting, so don't sneak out," the teenager warned with a sparkle in his green eyes.

It was hard to believe that he could still twinkle after all he had been through in his short life. But everyone had a story, like Miroku always told her. It just happened that she had a part in his story. The same way she had a part in Miroku's. The same way she knew Sango's. In fact, Inuyasha was the only mystery to her on the entire staff.

"Alright," she said, psyching herself up. "He's just another guy. Just...use your charm." When Kagome headed for the inner set to spark a conversation, she found that the pseudo-Santa was gone. "Miroku?" she asked the man in a reindeer suit. "Have you seen Inuyasha?"

"He just went to change in the locker room, why?"

"Nothing," Kagome said with a knock-out smile. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"If I don't die in the night from a concussion," he replied just as cheerily.

"One you deserved," Sango threw in her two cents as she carried her film bag past them, toward her car.

"You don't understand me at all Sango," Miroku pouted. "I'm a humanitarian!"

"Yeah," Kagome laughed. "He wants to get as many women pregnant as he can in order to assure the survival of our people." Sango laughed as she left, shaking her head with a grin.

"Ah, Kagome!" Miroku whined. "Why do you have to go and make me look bad in front of her?"

"Oh, sweetie," Kagome laughed, patting him on the shoulder. "You do a better job of that yourself."

Miroku narrowed his eyes at her menacingly. "You have five seconds."

Kagome laughed and took off like a shot from the set, toward the locker room. Miroku, as promised, was after her in fie seconds. They wove their way through end-of-the-day shoppers and rent-a-cops who yelled at them to stop running in the mall, and store workers heading home for the night. Although Miroku had been on the Track team in high school, Kagome always out ran him. For the life of him, he never knew how the petite girl was always, _always_ one step ahead of him.

"Ha! I beat you to the locker room," she said in a sing-song voice, flaunting her victory.

Miroku tried to scowl, but the corners of his mouth lifted in spite of himself. There was just no way anyone could be angry or sad or unhappy around Kagome. She gave off happiness and spirit in waves. It drew people to her, and made people fall in love with her. That was just the way she was, all sugar and spice and logic.

"You two act like grader school kids," Inuyasha commented from his locker. His Santa suit was already replaced with his normal clothes, and he was shrugging on his coat, ready to leave for the night.

"It's allowed to act like a kid, it's Christmas," Kagome responded good-naturedly.

Inuyasha's expression of disgruntled disapproval never changed.

"It's like talking to a hunk of wood," Miroku whispered to her. Kagome couldn't repress her snort of agreement.

"Good night," Inuyasha sighed, rolling his eyes as he walked past them.

"Hold on a sec!" Kagome called after him, giving chase. "Let me have a moment of your time."

Miroku watched this with veiled interest. Kagome, talking to the man who hated Christmas? A startling development. Something he'd have to watch more closely. In any event, they left the locker room and he took advantage of the opportunity to change in peace.

"What do you want?" Inuyasha asked, not really caring, as he walked toward the doors.

Kagome followed at his heels, taking two strides to match every one of his so she could keep up with his pace. It was like he wanted, _needed_, to get out of the mall as fast as possible. "What are your plans for Friday?" she asked.

He didn't slow. "I don't know yet," was his clever response.

"Why don't you come out with us?" she offered, eagerly.

"Who's _us_?" he asked, still not caring.

"You know, me, Miroku, Sango, Shippou? Us, as in the North Pole staff?"

"No thanks."

"Why not? You just said you weren't doing anything," she said stubbornly.

"I said I don't know, not that I'm doing nothing," he retorted.

"Someone only says they don't know when they don't have any plans, but don't want anyone to know that," Kagome rationalized.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes as he glanced over to her. In a quick glance, he could appraise most people, a gift he had learned when growing up in countless foster homes. Truthfully, she was easy on the eyes. Kagome was the kind of girl who was pretty without trying to be, and effortless beauty that women were always trying to achieve but few ever had. She also seemed totally unaware of the fact, which gave naiveté to her as another favor. Pure girls were always fun to mess around with. But she was just too..._perfect_.

No, he had made that mistake before. Perfect girls were either taken or damaged. He didn't thinks Kagome was taken, so that meant she was damaged, and he was not the baggage type--unless it was his own.

He was the do-what-you-have-to-then-broom-her-fast type. Always had been.

Nope, nothing good would come on this. "I'm waiting to see what my friends are doing," he said lamely.

"Translation: You don't want to come out with us."

"Pretty much." He was a heart-breaker, yes, but he wasn't a liar...often.

"That's too bad, you'd have fun with us," Kagome insisted.

"I'm sure I would."

If she heard the sarcasm in his voice, she chose to ignore it. "Maybe next time?"

"Maybe," was the only assurance he gave.

"I'll just have to keep reminding you then," Kagome smiled. Oh yes, she had a plan. How often had she been called annoyingly persistent in her life? At least a thousand. Her skills were refined.

"You do that," Inuyasha yawned.

Kagome felt slightly annoyed at his who-cares attitude. "Why are you so disgruntled?" she asked. "This job isn't so bad. It pays good."

"Says the girl with the curly shoes," he retorted. "Come on, this job is a poor man's charity work."

"Do you really feel that way?" she asked, taken aback.

"If I wasn't getting paid, there is no way in hell I'd ever consider doing this crap."

"So all of us, what we're doing--"

"Come off the moral high-horse Kagome," Inuyasha sighed. "You're a well-off girl. You probably split your pay check with your mother, send $10 a month to AIDS research, and be an elf every Christmas to make your life seem a little more meaningful than what it is. Just another faceless, purposeless existence that 99.9 of the human race carries out every day."

Kagome was literally speechless for around half a heart beat. How could anyone be so bitter was beyond her, but he had struck a never by assuming he knew the first thing about her.

"I donate to Cancer, actually," Kagome commented. "My paychecks go to me, toward my student loans or my living expenses, I volunteer at a soup kitchen every other Friday night, and I first got this job to avoid the mall pressing criminal charges against me."

"What?" Inuyasha actually slowed his steps as he looked over at her.

She shrugged. "Everyone has their secrets."

Inuyasha shook his head a little, as if not believing he had been taken in for a second by some kind of scam. "This is where I leave you," he commented upon coming to the door.

"Good night!" she said and watched him leave.

Eleven days. That's how long she had to get this walnut to crack...

She could work with eleven days.

----------------------------------------------------

"It's supposed to snow again tonight," Shippou said cheerfully as he and Kagome strolled along the street together. They were the only ones for the last three streets, and most of the streetlights were out on their block, the one they were coming on to.

"Really?" Kagome asked. "I hope so."

"You like snow more than I do sometimes," Shippou laughed.

"Yeah," she admitted. "And I don't even have to pray for snow days from school anymore."

"Lucky," he grumbled.

Kagome rubbed her mitten-ed hands together for warmth, then pulled her knit hat further ovre her ears. It was bitter cold out tonight, and it was dark, only making it colder. Her breath hung in the air with a silver tint, making it look less smoky and more unearthly. Still, it was her favorite time of the year.

"I lost a bet with Sango today," Kagome told him. Shippou was someone that she kept nothing from, mostly because he was too young to judge and too old to laugh.

"You never lose bets!" he denied, more than a little shocked.

"I did today," she sighed. "I have until Christmas Eve to make Inuyasha enjoy the season."

"Why the fuck would you agree to something like that!?" Shippou demanded.

"Language," Kagome corrected.

He hung his head. "Sorry."

"Sango tricked me into it. I didn't plan on her picking that. I thought it would be something stupid that would keep me occupied, you know, like buying her film everyday or something."

Shippou took his hand out from the pockets of his jacket and grabbed a handful of snow from the curb of the street. They were almost to the apartment building now. "Well, you got the short-end of the stick."

"I know," she agreed. "Do you think I can do it?"

"Truthfully?" She nodded eagerly. "There's no chance in hell." Her spirits fell.

"Oh..."

"But," he said, making her look up. Shippou flashed her a toothy grin. "If anyone can do it, it's you, Kagome."

She smiled back, a dodged just as he hurled the snowball at her. Shippou had forgotten that she had a little brother and had been through countless snowball fights, enough to make her a seasoned veteran in the tactics of little boys. She gave chase as he attempted to escape. In front of the apartment building, she tripped him into a large snow drift.

"No fair!" he sputtered, spitting out snow as she held the door open for him.

"Stop whining, cry baby, you're letting heat out!"

He grumbled as they walked in together, then up the three flights of stairs to their floor. Kagome dug in her pocket for her keys. She walked to the left side of the hall, the loft apartment. Shippou went to the right side, the smaller apartment. She unlocked; knocked.

"G'night," he called as the door opened.

"Night," Kagome called back as she flicked on her living room lights and headed in.

"Grams, I'm home!"

"Shippou, you're home early tonight!" Kagome heard the voice of her neighbor say as she closed her door.

Kagome took off her hat and her mittens, tossing them to the floor along with her scarf and her coat. She'd pick them up later. She walked to the thermostat and turned it up, warm heat billowed into the lofty two-room apartment. She kicked off her shoes and left them by the vent in the "kitchen" portion of the larger room.

"I'm home!" she said into the apartment. No one answered. No one ever did. No one lived there but her. Still, saying it out loud helped her feel a little less lonely at the end of the day.

For a minute, Kagome was tempted to call her mother, but then she's just get another round of apologies about not being able to come for Christmas. Her grandfather was going on a Bingo trip with his friends over the holiday. Souta, her younger brother, was going to a ski cabin in the mountains with three of his friends. Her mother was going away with a few of her friends to spend the holidays at the beach.

It wasn't as if she'd be totally alone of Christmas. Miroku was coming over since his family was a firm advocate of loud parties and no real holiday significance, and Miroku was a little simpler than that. Sango promised to try and come, but with all that was going on in her life, it was truly hard to make a commitment. Shippou and Kaede were coming--and bringing the ham. So she wouldn't be alone.

But it was the first year that her family hadn't felt the need to include her in their plans. Everyone was doing something else, and no one bothered to tell her until a few days earlier. And all the plans she had been making were ruined.

Kagome pulled on a fresh pair of dry, warm socks and made herself some hot chocolate. She didn't feel like watching television. There was only some many times a person could see "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown" without wishing Snoopy would just bite the title character on the leg.

Instead, she curled up on her window sill, knees pulled into her chest, coco cradled in her hands. She looked out into the night, watching the snow begin to fall, and remembered another snowy night, over two years ago.

She had been volunteering in the homeless shelter soup kitchen only a few weeks when she first met Shippou. He was a dewy-eyed little boy of barely thirteen with a toothy grin that melted her heart. He always got seconds when she was working the food line.

He usually wore clean clothes, and he wasn't unbearably thin like the others. He looked like he had a home, and was at least sometimes taken care of, but he still came to the soup kitchen religiously, every other Friday night. Sometimes he didn't even eat, he'd only come to talk to some of the people who volunteered. Kagome was his favorite, and he was hers.

It wasn't until a months after she met him that she saw the bruises on him. Usually they were cleverly hidden beneath his clothes and his face was usually bright, but one Friday he walked in with a day-old broken lip and a black eye. That's when she realized why he came to the soup kitchen, and why he didn't want to go home.

Kagome was just nineteen, barely able to support herself, but she was determined to help him. He trusted her with his secret, the secret wrath of his father, who took out on the son the fact that his mother had left them for a stock broker and a summer house. Kagome trusted him with her secrets as well, and they forged a bond almost as strong as the one she had with her own little brother.

One winter night, much like the one she looked out upon now, Kagome followed Shippou back to his father's apartment. He had been waiting for Shippou, as the boy knew he would be. Shippou didn't know Kagome followed him until he opened the door a few minutes after his own arrival, and found her. The second his father saw Kagome, he flew off the handle, screaming at Shippou, swearing unbearable pain upon him. Kagome simply walked in, pulled Shippou behind her and faced the fire.

He noticed that his threats meant nothing and lunged at the boy. Kagome put herself between them again and intercepted a strong blow to the side of her face. Her lip bled, but she smiled.

"Please," she said calmly. "Hit me again, so I can have to arrested for assault." He didn't raise his hand again. Kagome had the upper hand, and control, and they all three knew it. "You're not going to hurt this boy again." Then Kagome and Shippou walked out the door and they never looked back. Shippou was never hit again.

Social services had Shippou taken from his father. Kagome found a suitable foster home for him, with her elderly neighbor across the hall, Kaede. Someone she had known for two years, and who she'd trust with the life of the little boy in her care. Kaede was only too willing to accept the boy into her home.

She had adopted him, officially, the Christmas before. Kagome sighed, leaning her head against the window frame. That family had a happy ending. There were far too few of those in the world.

Kagome finished her drink and headed to bed early. Tomorrow would be brighter. She'd feel less alone. She'd appreciate her family more. She'd be less miserable. Tomorrow would be better.

Empty wishes on a snowflake that melted when it hit her window pane.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, this was a downer chapter, sorry! There will be seriousness to this story--because every story needs a "story" to build the humor on. There will be morefunny in thenext chapterbecause we'll have some Miroku-Sango fun, and Kagome enacting her brilliant plans with Inuyasha. Yes, it will be fun! So review and I'll update faster! 


	3. Take 3

**A/N:** Ok, here is the next chapter, weeeeeee. This story is so fun to write! Thanks to those who have reviewed and for those of you who have not (coughVONNAcough) please do so! Reviewing gives me motivation to work faster. There are only a few chapters to this story (maybe 5) so I have to hurry up and get it done by Christmas! Yell at me readers! Guilt is my best motivation!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha or any other character. I do, however, own a Def Leppard CD which is helping me out tonight!

* * *

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Take 3

* * *

He lay on his side, staring at the digital clock next to the bed. 7:58.

He'd been awake since 4 AM. There was a point when he had gotten up to raid the near-empty fridge and then burrowed under his blankets again. The heat was off in the building for the second time that week. He had considered pulling out an old book, the one that was propping up the crooked-legged chair in the kitchen, just for something to do, but then he decided against it. Instead, he just lay and thought.

Here, mostly buried beneath a mound of blankets, staring at a very cheap clock that now read 7:59, and waiting for the day to start so that he could draw himself up and begin anew, Miroku pondered existence yet again. Try as he might, he couldn't think that optimistically today. Tonight, arriving on the red-eye at 9 PM, both of his parents would appear for a "surprise" visit.

Thankfully, he had been warned by Mushin, a sort of surrogate uncle that Miroku had known his entire life. The reindeer-poser didn't want to think about what it would have done to him had his parents actually showed up without any notice. It was probable he'd have a heart attack. Maybe, if he was lucky, he would die from it and be spared a weekend alone with them.

But alas, no.

If there was one thing Miroku was, though, it was a survivor. He would endure, he always did, and he would be the better for it. And if he was lucky, which he was sometimes, his parents would forget to visit him for another two years.

Miroku was a man of many thoughts, and several actions, and few repercussions due to his abundant cleverness. He was a man blessed with good looks and a quick wit, if not the greatest amount of common sense. For all the blessings given to him, and even all the faults as well, he couldn't blame, or credit, a single thing about himself to his parents.

They had never been around when he was growing up, due to some charity event or some new hospital wing opening or something else they had to do that was more important than their only child. Miroku, for all his childish resentment, didn't really blame them for it. They were aristocrats, blue-bloods, born to money most people would only dream of. It wasn't their fault that they were raised to be neglectful and snobbish, that was just their way.

There had been a time when Miroku was that way too.

But a glimpse at the real world, having a taste of what most people dealt with, sobered him of that drunkenness caused by privilege. He was no longer that fifteen-year-old in a boarding school uniform, riding show horses and getting straight A's in the hopes of approval. He was, in most ways at least, a man, who had broken away from his family name and their money, to live on his own.

Maybe living in a one-bedroom apartment that never had heat, with an always empty pantry, and a nearly empty wallet wasn't exactly what he had imagined his life would be, but there was time. It wasn't like he was starving, and Kagome always offered to let him room with her if he needed a place. Maybe Miroku's life wasn't the way it was supposed to be, but most people's lives weren't.

If only his parents could understand that although he wasn't wild with joy over his lot in life, he wasn't miserable. Far from it in fact. He And that was enough for Miroku.

But it would never be enough for them, and they were coming to remind him.

There comes a time in a man's life when he sincerely wishes that he never had parents. Sadly, Miroku was as all men are, utterly bound to the physical realities that the human race provides.

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One week.

Seven days.

168 hours.

The deadline of Christmas was fastly approaching and Kagome was no where near close to cracking into Inuyasha's personal melodrama against the holiday. If anything, he seemed to be hating more by the minute due to her persistence.

She had bugged him on every break, proceeded to follow him around after the end of their shifts, and made every attempt humanly possible to get him to talk to her for more than a brief thirty second brush-off. So far, there had been no luck. He avoided her, or he just ignored her as best he could before blowing up in her face.

It didn't discourage her, but she was getting a little worried now that time was running out.

Here it was, bright and early, exactly seven days until Christmas, and Inuyasha practically sprinted from the sight of her to the locker room when she spotted him. Instead of giving chase, as she knew she should have, Kagome simply sighed and walked over to the set. She just wasn't feeling up to following today.

"I've dug my own grave," she sighed, running the brim of her elf-hat over her fingers. If she couldn't whittle down Inuyasha in seven days, she had no doubt that Sango would think up something even more heinous for her to do, and that was not something the young elf-girl was looking forward to.

She thought it would be simple. Most guys were simple, to her opinion. Kagome had been a master manipulator for most of her life. Flash a pretty smile, a batting of her lashes, a throaty whisper and she could get anything she wanted. Granted, she was a better person than to stoop to using that, but she had on occasion been known to rely on her most basic of assets--her beauty.

Most guys would do what she wanted for an empty promise, just because she would give them the time of day. There were some exceptions to that rule, of course. It was just rare to meet one of those. And it bothered her that the object of this carefully crafted plan was one of those exceptions.

When she got to the set, Kagome was happy to find Miroku already there. Her smile faded, however, when she noticed how tired he looked.

"Miroku, you sleep on a bed of nails?" she baited, tugging on his antlers affectionately.

"You could say that," he commented, not rising to her jest. It was unlike him. Miroku was a keen debater.

"Uh-oh," Kagome frowned. "This means only one of two things. Either you got turned down by a girl--"

"Don't Kagome," he warned.

"Or," she continued as if he hadn't interrupted, "your parents are coming to town." He winced and she knew she hit the nail on the head. "Ouch."

"Yeah," he commented with a defeated sigh. "They're getting in tonight."

"How long are they staying?"

"Only the weekend," he said with a relieved sigh. "They have their own plans for Christmas. They leave Tuesday morning."

"Still, three days?" Kagome let out a low whistle. "You'll want to hang yourself by tomorrow night."

"I doubt it'll take that long."

She smiled encouragingly at him. "I'm here if you need me," she offered.

He smiled wanly back. "Thanks Kagome, but they'll be bothering me about why I don't have a steady girlfriend, why I'm not settling down and giving them grandchildren yet. They already no you, so I'm pretty much going to be hung out to dry."

That's when Kagome's head jumped into motion again, and a wicked smile spread across her face. As always, her deviousness was rearing it's head, but in rare form. This was actually a plan that would work well in both favors, instead of just her own amusement.

"Well, you could always get someone to _pretend_ to be your girlfriend, just until your parents are gone."

Miroku snorted. "I'm not hiring a hooker."

Kagome laughed. "I don't mean that! I just mean...a personal favor. Get a single girl to go out with you, once or twice, with your parents watching, and then when they leave they'll be none the wiser. They'll think you have a girlfriend and you know you don't. It's a win-win."

"And who will I get to do that?" he asked skeptically.

Kagome opened her mouth to answer, when she was cut off. "Good morning!" Sango called from the camera. She dumped her bag and arched her back. "Ready to start?"

Kagome let her smile answer for her.

Miroku raised one eyebrow, looking back and forth between the two females, then smiled much the same as Kagome. "I love the way your mind works," he said with a laugh.

"Why do you think we get along so well?" she countered.

"I don't question gifts from God," he said, laying on the charm. Kagome giggled even as she blushed, pushing him affectionately on the shoulder before heading off to start her daily activities.

"Go ahead and shmooze Romeo," she waved.

Miroku adjusted his antlers and decided to do just that. He was startled to discover that his heart was beating a little over time as he came upon Sango. It was a little odd, but that only made it more fun in the long run. "Good morning Sango," he greeted with a disarming smile.

"Good morning Miroku," she said with an answering grin.

She turned and went back to her work. Miroku cleared his throat once, sent up a silent prayer, and took the plunge of faith needed whenever doing one of Kagome's schemes. But hey, it was all in the name of pacifying his unrelenting parents. "Sango, could I ask a favor of you?"

She turned and looked at him warily, her pretty eyes skeptical even as she swept a lock of hair from them. She looked a little disheveled this morning, as if she had been in a rush. Miroku couldn't say that he minded. Sango was the kind of woman that looked good in any situation, in any lighting, at any time.

"It depends what you need," she responded. "I'm not committing until I know terms."

That made him smile. She sounded almost like Kagome. "Well, let me put it to you frankly?" Sango nodded her consent. "My parents are coming to visit me tonight. They're staying for three days. In such time I might be tempted, on more than one occasion, to harm myself. Mostly due to their constant campaign to find me a wife. Basically, I will do anything you want if you could pretend to be my girlfriend for the next three days."

His explanation was expelled in the space of one breath so it took her a second to sort out all he had said, then her eyes widened. "_No_!" she said, voice an octave too high. "There is no way in Hell I'd do something like that!"

She pushed him aside, stomping across the set to arrange the chair in her camera angle. He followed. "I'll buy all your film for the rest of the season!"

"No."

"Next year too!"

"No." She was starting to weaken.

"I'll buy all your film for this year, next year, _and_ I'll stop groping you at work!"

For a few moments, Sango lingered on the edge of doubt. She wanted to hold firm on her morals, to shout in his face, but with him paying for the film it would mean more money for her...and more money would look good to social services. Oh God, she was so close to saying no, but part of her lingered in consent. In the long run, morals came up short in the face of money she so desperately needed. But, just for kicks, she added an extra condition.

"Stop groping the mothers too and we've got a deal," she stated.

Miroku looked taken aback for all of a second before sticking his hoof out. Sango grasped and shook. They had a biding agreement. For the next three days, Sango was Miroku's "girlfriend". She would live to regret it, of that she was sure, but it was saving her money if not sanity.

Kagome smiled to herself from across the set and sighed contentedly. It was the number one rule of being a good manipulator--always make the manipulated parties think it was their idea. Her concentration was shattered however. Children were arriving and work needed to be done. But that was just a day in the life of a Head elf.

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By the end of the day, Miroku was thoroughly stressed out.

It can be said that the anticipation of pain is far worse than pain itself. That's what he felt like. Expecting his parents to arrive was in fact far worse than them simply arriving. The first hour would be alright. They'd just be so happy to see him still alive and sober that they'd forget to torment him...for a while anyway.

"Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away," Kagome sang as she entered the locker room, hat in one hand. "This year to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special."

Somehow, it was just hard to be sullen when that was filling your head. Kagome was annoying, persistent, and very perplexing, but she had one hell of a voice and she knew just how to use it. She always knew how to cheer him up, and when to do it. Maybe it was just one of those innate best friend things.

"You know, you should have your own Christmas album," he commented to her as she sauntered around.

"I've thought about it," she commented between verses.

As she continued singing, Miroku stepped in, taking her hand and twirling her once before pulling her into a box step with him. "Last Christmas I gave you my heart but the very next day, you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special."

It was just one of those things that they could do, and did. Like playing tag in the mall despite the fact that they were both twenty-something. Like the fact that they'd drag each other to low-class horror movies or awkward parties or some other social anxiety that you could only face with a good friend beside you. Like name-calling and idle threats. Like dancing in a locker room, while still in costume. That was Kagome and Miroku, like brother and sister.

That was the first thing that Sango noticed about them when Kagome introduced her to Miroku. She knew about Kagome's strained relationship with her family, but she also knew about the strong ties she had with Shippou and his foster grandmother, and with the handsome man she called her best friend. Kagome and Miroku's relationship was complex, she wasn't quite sure in the beginning if they really were _just_ friends. But then, after a short time around them, she saw that really did have a sibling's love for one another.

Sango stood in the doorway of the locker room, leaning against the frame and watched them. It was a refreshing thing, to see two people actually enjoying their Christmas season. For a moment, she caught herself wishing she could join them, but then realized that to be folly and strode into the room.

Dreams were childish in the face of reality.

Her reality was hard enough without the pain of longing adding to it.

"Well, you two seem to be enjoying yourselves."

Kagome looked up from mid-dip and grinned. "Just working on some moves," she laughed. "You should let Miroku dance with you. He's wonderful on his feet."

"I'm better off my feet," he said with a suggestive waggling of eyebrows.

Sango rolled her eyes. "There will be none of that during our little facade," she declared. "I will only be _pretending_ to be your girlfriend, not actually fulfilling any of those requirements."

"Damn," Miroku said with a snap of his fingers. "Should have had that in writing."

"Either way," Sango said, pressing on despite the heat rushing to her face. "I have to get home. When do you need me to...make my appearance?"

"I'll let you two lovebirds talk," Kagome grinned, sneaking off toward the other side of the room to change in peace.

"Um, tonight would actually have been preferable," he commented lightly. "The 'rents are coming tonight at 9. It would be good if you could meet them at the airport with me."

"Tonight?" she said, frowning slightly. "I don't know if I can."

"Free film," he reminded tantalizingly.

Sango sighed. "Fine."

"Good," he grinned. "If we leave now, we can take our time and I can fill you in on the particulars."

"We have to stop off at my apartment first," she said with a harried expression. "I have to drop off my stuff."

"Fine, I'll give you a lift and we can talk on the way."

"Let's go."

Kagome watched them leave, Sango purposely putting herself two feet away from Miroku, even though he made no move to touch her, nor would he. He promised, and Miroku never broke his word, no matter how much he wanted to. If there was one thing to be said about Miroku, it was that he was an honest fool.

She smiled a little to herself. It was a win-win situation here. Miroku would get his parents off his back and Sango would save some money in the long run, money she truly did need. And maybe there would be a few reindeer games in between.

Kagome sighed wistfully. She really was a romantic at heart.

The locker room door slamming made her jump out of her fanciful thoughts. She turned to look up, seeing Inuyasha stomp into the room and to his locker. He didn't seem to notice she was there, which was alright with her. She had little wish to approach him at the moment. He looked ready to bite off anyone's head.

She attempted to sneak out of the room unseen, but he must have seen her in the corner of his eye because he swung around and fixed her with a warning glance.

"Don't worry," she said while holding up both hands. "I'm just on my way out." Coat and hat in hand, she fled the locker room for the thinning mall population.

Shippou had left a few hours earlier to finish shopping and help out Kaede, meaning Kagome would be walking home along tonight. She didn't have a car, nor had she ever owned one. That had been an expense she had just never had the luxury of after she moved away from home. She began to regret that fact as she looked outside to find it sleeting.

Kagome pulled the collar of her coat up to protect her neck, and pulled her hat down to cover her ears before opening the door and bracing herself. Then she took that running leap, half sliding in a very ungraceful manner, out into the elements. Her apartment was several blocks away. She'd be wet through, and likely to catch cold if she didn't hurry.

_And me without my umbrella_, she thought dismally.

She was halfway down the street away from the mall, waiting for a light to turn green so she could cross, when a car pulled up at the curb beside her. A window rolled down and Kagome was very surprised to see Inuyasha in the driver's seat. She had to make a mental note: he was a jerk, but not without some semblance of a heart. Perhaps she could exploit that for later use.

"Don't you have a car?" he called over to her over the pounding of sleet and the honking of cars.

"No," she called back.

"You live nearby?"

"About six streets down," she called back, barely hearing herself.

"Get in."

"What?"

"Get in!"

And she did, sliding wetly and gratefully into the passenger seat. "Thanks," she said shyly, shutting the door and placing her bare hands against the heat vent. Her gloves were in her locker at work, forgotten in haste.

"Don't thank me," he said evenly. "It's not out of the goodness of my heart. This is to keep me from extra work if you call out sick tomorrow."

"With a week until Christmas?" she asked skeptically. "Never."

Inuyasha snorted. "Figures."

That annoyed her. "Don't thin you know all there is to know about me," she snapped.

"Not a nice feeling, is it?" he countered.

"I never said I knew you," she retorted proudly. "I _wanted _to know you. There's a big difference."

"Huge." Sarcasm was plain.

"If you dislike my company so much, why didn't you just leave me on the curb?" she pressed.

"I told you already."

"I don't buy it," she said with a smile aimed at him. "You know enough about me to know that I wouldn't call out. I love the job too much."

"Something I'll never understand," he muttered.

"My street is the next left," she commented, then got back to topic. "You'd understand, if you made an effort and got to know me."

"Which building?" he asked with a disinterested tone.

"The last one on the right."

"Kinda rundown."

"It's better inside then out," she commented, feeling defensive. "But I'm sure you're used to better."

"What makes you say that?" Inuyasha baited, pulling up in front of the building.

"You have that attitude, like everything you do now is beneath you." She shrugged one shoulder. "Like all of us are beneath you."

"I never said--"

"You don't have to, you just have to think it and it's all over your face." Kagome smiled over at him, a look of tiredness in her eyes that he'd never seen before. _Or maybe_, a little voice in his head nagged him, _he never took the time to see_. Still, she smiled, and leaned across the seat to kiss him. It wasn't a date kiss, just the merest brush of her lips over his, a whisper of a kiss. But it was enough to knock him off guard. Though she followed him around easy enough, he never got the feeling that she enjoyed it, or him for that matter.

"Thank you for driving me home," she said when she leaned back and opened the door. Then she was gone into the rain, with nothing but a wet imprint in the seat beside him to suggest she was ever there.

He shook his head and put his car into gear, pulling away with confusion drifting over him. "Damn that girl is weird." But she had accomplished her mission. She was getting under his skin.

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"Right here," Sango pointed. Her apartment was on the third floor, a nice roomy place she afforded only by using every one of her dollars correctly. She was proud of the place. It wasn't what she had had in the beginning, but it was a good neighborhood and it was rent controlled.

Miroku pulled his car up beside the curb and parked. "You want me to come up with you?"

She shrugged noncommittally. "Suit yourself. I just have to run inside." Then she pushed open the door and headed inside.

There was no elevator, but she never expected one. She took the stairs two at a time instead, rummaging in her pockets until she found her keys and made it to the third floor. Second door on the left. Sango unlocked the white door and walked inside.

"Sango?" a voice called from the living room.

"It's just me, Kohaku," she called back, dropping her bag on to the floor and heading into the room. Kohaku, her fifteen-year-old, was sprawled across the couch, remote in hand, flipping through the channels. Sango stooped over him long enough to ruffle his messy black hair and plant a kiss on the top of his head. "How was practice?" she asked, already moving into the kitchen.

"Fine," he answered, turning off the television and following after her. "We have a game in the morning. I don't suppose you'd come?"

"Sorry," she said, turning to look at him from the open freezer. "I have to work tomorrow. I'll come to the next one, I promise."

"That's what you said last time," he said quietly. Kohaku had, the winter before, joined a youth league hockey team. He was very talented at it, and Sango was thrilled that he had finally found something that he was good at and enjoyed to do.

"I'm sorry Kohaku, but someone needs to support us," she reminded. It wasn't a harsh answer, just one that was tired and unfair to both of them.

"Am I interrupting?" Both turned to see Miroku standing in the kitchen doorway, looking sheepish. "Your door was open, and you said I could come up. It's sleeting cats and dogs, and I think we should get going."

Kohaku turned to Sango, then back to the guy standing in his kitchen. "Who's this?"

"Kohaku, this is Miroku. I work with him. Miroku, this is Kohaku." Then she turned to her co-worker and nodded. "I'll be down in a minute."

He shrugged, looking once more at the teenager who was suddenly glaring at him. "Sure...I'll wait downstairs." Then he was gone and Kohaku rounded on Sango.

"You're going on a _date_?!"

"It's not a date," Sango said evenly, removing a microwave dinner from a box and sticking it into the microwave. "I guess this will have to do for dinner."

"Don't change the subject!" the teen demanded.

Sango sighed. "I'm just doing him a favor. I'll be home as soon as I can, don't wait up." Then she made to leave.

"_Sango_," he sighed.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing in a comforting gesture. "Next game, I swear." His hand covered her own for a second.

"Sure."

Then he pulled her hand away and went to his room. Sango heard the clicking of the door as if it were a slam, in her face no less. It was true that she sucked being a mother. She had no practice with children...let alone raising a teenager by herself. But Kohaku was her brother. Her only family. And she'd die before anyone took him away.

She locked the door on her way out, pocketing the keys again and meeting Miroku on the ground floor, as promised. They had made it to the car, and nearly toward the highway before speaking.

"Who was the kid?"

"My brother," she said idly.

"You live with your parents?" he asked, not understanding why a teenager would be living with a fresh-out-of-college photographer.

"My mother died eight years ago," she commented, as if it meant nothing. As if it happened to someone else. "Dad last Spring."

"I'm sorry," he offered, knowing that condolences meant little.

"Thanks," she said with a tired smile. She'd been through this before. Awkward silence, unsure of words. Men often ran from an orphan caring for a teenaged brother.

"It must be hard," he thought out loud. "Taking care of him."

"It's a challenge," she responded. "But he's all I have. I'd do anything to keep him."

He noticed the edge in her voice, but instead of shying away, he picked at it. "Did someone try to take him away?"

"After Dad died, social services put him in a foster home," Sango admitted. "I didn't have a steady job. I was living in a rat hole apartment. I fought to get him back, but under the guidelines that I have steady work, a better place, and that I'm able to support him." She paused and smiled a little more satisfied. "I got him back in June. If I can make it until then, they'll drop our case and Kohaku can stay with me until he turns eighteen."

Miroku looked over at her with a new level of respect. Sango was the kind of person who would go to any lengths to achieve her goals, something for admirable and engaging. There was more to the pretty photographer than meets the eye, and he had every intention of finding out what was entailed.

After his parents arrived, of course.

Which they did, promptly at 9, with all the pomp and circumstance they always arrived with. His mother threw her arms around him in a fit of dramatics, crying about how her little boy was bigger than she'd seen him last (and so much more handsome). And his father patted him on the back, saying he was finally growing into himself and becoming a man.

Only then did they notice Sango, and they rounded on her like a dog in the scent of a hunt.

Miroku rescued her from answers by introducing her as his girlfriend, and begging them to tell him all about their latest charity benefit and donations. They were only more than happy to spout details as Miroku loaded their luggage in his car and smiled over at Sango, who was caught up in a tidal wave of longing for her own parents and confusion at the actions of these parents to their son. Still, she managed to smile back at that son. She got the feeling they'd be doing that a lot over the next three days, and she also had the feeling that she wouldn't mind too much.

He couldn't grope her, as per their contract. And as long as he kept his hands to himself, Miroku was a really good guy.

Sango was in trouble.

* * *

**A/N:** Next chapter will hopefully get out on Friday and the final installment on Christmas day. Review please! 


	4. Take 4

**A/N:** Okay, here is Chapter 4! Yes, I'll have the final one out tomorrow, so never fear! I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my older brother, Mike, who is AWESOME. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha or anything of that caliber. I do, however, now own Soul Calibur 2!

* * *

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Take 4

* * *

Sango sat in Miroku's living room, hands folded delicately in her lap, legs crossed demurely at the ankles, back perfectly straight. The way her mother had taught her to sit in polite circles. Like a lady.

It always helped to fall back on familiar behavior when you felt like a fish out of water. If she felt anything, Sango felt out of place. It wasn't Miroku's apartment, which was only slightly better than the one she had lived in before taking in Kohaku. It wasn't Miroku, who was always making the effort to come to her rescue if he saw her flailing with questions of becoming bored. It was Miroku's parents.

She recognized by the designer luggage and the label clothes they wore that they had money. I became even more apparent in the way that they spoke and how they moved. They just oozed upper class and Sango felt...less than worthy.

But then she'd look at Miroku, who wore off-the-clearance-rack stuff all the time, and complained about the heat in his apartment, and was puzzled. Why did he live in substandard housing when he parents had money?

The living room was mostly silent now. Miroku's parents sat on the ratty couch across the room from Sango and Miroku, each sitting in chairs brought out from the kitchen. Miroku lounged across his, hands behind his head, but Sango instinctively knew that he was uncomfortable. There was a subtle tension in his body, as if ready to leap to the attack in a fluid motion. He was on full alert, despite the pains taken to appear calm.

She couldn't remember ever feeling that guarded when she had been around her parents. Her mother was a little formal, but she came from a conservative family. It wasn't as though she didn't love her tomboy daughter, she just took certain measures to keep the unruliness in check. Sango had never complained, and always followed her mother's ministrations to the exact detail, because Sango had adored her mother.

Her father was the same way. Sango would do her best to please him. Fishing, baseball, wrestling. All the things a boy would do, Sango did better. When Kohaku got old enough, he joined them. The four of them were as close and loving as a family could be. Even after her mother had passed, and it was the three of them, they grew even closer.

Now her father was gone, and a void was left in Sango's world. She felt her eyes misty over lightly as she thought about him, and quickly reminded herself where she was and who her present company were. Tears abated, she tried to focus once more on her surroundings.

This was her second time meeting Miroku's parents, if the ride home from the airport the night before was considered a meeting. There was just a bunch of comments on jet-lag and questions about her relationship with their son. Now wasn't much better, but at least they're manners were as impeccable as their taste in clothing.

"Miroku," his mother began, sipping on her tea with refinement. "Are you still working that dreadful job?"

Miroku grinned. "Yes, Mother. I'm still writing freelance for the newspaper."

His mother shivered ever so slightly. "Dreadful things. That a son of mine would stoop so low..."

"It's not low, Mother," Miroku reminded. "It's how all Pulitzer Prize winners get their start."

"Don't listen to him, dear," his father commented, patting his wife's arm. "Let's just speak of better things." She nodded, turning back to her son with renewed vigor.

"Tell us where you met this lovely creature." Her smile to Sango was snowy, but ever so polite.

"Through Kagome," Miroku smiled. "She asked me to help her with some seasonal work, and Sango was working with her."

Sango read the look that past over both parents' faces when he mentioned Kagome: a look of contempt. It startled her. The way Miroku and Sango were so close, one would think it natural that his parents would adore her as much as the son obviously did, but no.

"I work as a photographer," Sango added lightly, drawing their attention. She colored slightly under their gazes. "I've known Kagome for a while, she introduced us."

His father sniffed. "I take it you're friends with her."

"Yes," Sango said, without a hint of fear. "She helped me during a very hard time in my life." Their eyes frosted somewhat. Sango felt the need to elaborate, to give them cause for her loyalty. "My father passed away last Spring," she said lightly. "Kagome helped me, financially and emotionally, so that I was able to provide a home for my younger brother."

"So...you are raising a child on your own?" Miroku's mother asked, startled.

"He's a teenager, actually," Sango corrected, not liking her tone. "And I'm all the family he has left."

There was silence again for a long while, until they started talking to Miroku again and ignored Sango for the remainder of the visit. Something told her that it hadn't gone well. Her job as "fake" girlfriend was not doing what he wanted it to do. _Should have reigned in the temper_, she chided herself.

When at last the parents departed to their hotel room for the evening, Sango approached Miroku calmly. "I would understand if you want to renege on the deal," she sighed. "I'm not playing a very good girlfriend."

"Are you kidding?" Miroku grinned at her, locking the door with flourish. "I couldn't have found a better one."

She blanked for a minute. "But they hate me."

"That makes it even better," he laughed. "Now I can throw in their faces that they wanted me to get a girlfriend, and I won't throw you aside just because they don't like you."

Sango was stunned, but then again, she often was by Miroku. "You _like_ the fact that they hate me?"

"They hate Kagome," he shrugged. "They hate everything I love, so it's little surprise to me that they'd hate the girl I like."

Sango nodded, understanding this logic until something dawned on her. She looked up at him with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. He looked back, questioning her silently. "Why did you ask me to pretend to be your girlfriend?"

Miroku paled. "Kagome gave me the idea?"

"You don't sound sure about that."

"I'm not."

"Then why did you ask me?"

"You were there."

"Is that all?"

"What answer do you want?"

"The truth," was her cryptic answer.

"I don't have a girlfriend," he said simply. "If I did, I'd want her to be like you."

Sango cocked her head to one side, fighting the urge to blush. "Why?"

"Why am I getting the third degree?" Miroku asked, suddenly feeling defensive.

"Because I want to know."

Miroku frowned, then held up a hand, ticking off his answers. "You're smart, focused, beautiful, and understanding. You're the kind of woman who would sacrifice for those she loves. You've got a level head and a steady heart. You're a rock. Most importantly, you're paitent. Sango, you can take the time to see things that no one else does, especially being a photographer. I need someone who can keep me humble like that."

"Someone like me..." she echoed. A warm feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. "You really think I'm like that?"

"I know you are," he said simply, shrugging to add indifference. "I know I've only known you for what...two months, but anyone can know that about you in two _minutes_."

Her eyes began to mist again. So many echoed words in her head. _Steady. Smart. Loyal and strong. The best kind of person. The best kind of _daughter. Words from her father mixed with words from Miroku. "I'm not perfect, you know," she said in a little voice, speaking to man and ghost. "I get angry. I make mistakes--"

"Who doesn't?" he commented. "My point is that you're a good person."

"Just so we're clear, I think you're a good person too."

Miroku raked a hand through his hair. "You don't know me that well," he said darkly. "I'm not a good person. I used to be like them, all stuck-up and arrogant. I treated woman like objects and my so-called friends even worse, and everyone turned the other way because of their money."

"Is that why you live like this?" She took a step toward him, hesitated, then took another.

He looked at her with a wild desperation, trying to make her see that he was a damned man with an angel's face. "Penance? I guess you could say that. Kagome calls it that. I just...I don't want to become them...ever. I don't want their money, or their blessing. I just...want my life, good or bad, worth nothing or something. I want it to be mine. I want to love who I love, and do what I love, and not apologize for it."

"And you don't think you're good for that?"

He laughed; it sounded hallow. "I think I'm good for some things, and damned for others."

"Yeah," she agreed.

They stood their in silence, appreciating the other's presence. But it was enough of a start.

What else could they do? They were both stuck in the same place, trying to find themselves while living off the guilt and responsibility given to them because of situations out of their control. They were both lost and found at once. What could they do but fall in love?

---------------------------------------------------------------

"I am issuing to you a formal invitation," Kagome announced, slamming the door to Inuyasha's locker just as he finished changing.

"Excuse me?" he said, somewhat startled.

"Do you have plans Christmas Eve?" He opened his mouth to reply but she held up a hand. "Before you tell me you're waiting on your friends, I'll spare you the trouble." She broke into a tremendous grin. "You're invited to spend Christmas Eve with me and my pseudo-family at my apartment."

Inuyasha was speechless for a minute. "Why?" he asked when he recovered his voice.

"I figured you'd have no where else to go," she said with an efficient ease. "And since we're all going to be sitting around, getting drunk now that our work here is done, you should hang out with us rather than being by yourself."

"What makes you think I'll be alone?"

She just looked at him, then smiled slowly.

"Ok ok," he admitted. "I'll be alone, but don't rub it in."

"Ok, I promise, if _you_ promise to come tomorrow night."

Inuyasha who, over the course of the last few days, had been growing extremely nervous about this newfound realization that thoughts of Kagome danced in his head at night, was leery.

"I don't know."

"Oh, come on!" Kagome whined. "You've been so much better being Christmas-y this week. Treat yourself."

"I'll think about it," was all he'd say.

Kagome groaned, rolling her eyes. "Well, give me a ride home so I can convince you properly."

"It's not snowing," he complained. "Walk."

"You're going to deny a girl a ride home at night, in the cold, the day before Christmas Eve?"

He sighed; she'd won. "Fine."

Kagome smiled, very proud of herself, and followed as he left the locker room to head out to the parking lot. Finally, the Christmas season was over. It had been their last day as the mall's North Pole staff. In a few hours, Christmas would be upon them, in full.

The rest of the staff had packed it in for the night. Sango and Miroku had left together only a few minutes before. Kagome had happily noticed the pair of them spending more time together, alone, especially since Miroku's parents had left. Shippou had the day off, thanks to Kagome. She had stayed behind a few minutes longer in the attempt to goad Inuyasha into coming to her Christmas gathering.

Oddly enough, it wasn't the bet that motivated her. In fact, she hadn't really thought about the bet in days. She just wanted him there because she was growing to enjoy his company.

Together, they got into Inuyasha's car and headed off toward Kagome's apartment.

"Come."

"I don't know."

"Don't give me that!"

"Lay off! I just don't know."

"Don't be a little girl about it."

"Don't call me a little girl."

"I won't if you'd stop acting like one and just come."

"You're very unattractive when you manipulate people." She fell silent at that, just looking at him with very large eyes until they reached the curb of her apartment. Inuyasha put the car in park. "I don't know if I'll come."

"Why wouldn't you?" she asked quietly, suddenly subdued.

"Why should I?" he responded.

She never hesitated. "I want you to."

Inuyasha had to remember to breathe. "I'll try."

"Try hard," she said with a faint smile, then climbed out.

Inuyasha shook his head hard and tried to restart his car, but it wouldn't turn over. He paused for a minute, then tried again. Still, it choked and sputtered, but didn't turn. He waited once more, punching the gas pedal and turning the key, but the car only heaved once and died.

A knock on his window alerted him a few minutes later to the fact that Kagome had reappeared. He opened his door and got out. "Can I use your phone?" he asked.

"Sure," she agreed.

He followed her to her apartment.

Neither of them realized it had started snowing. Very, very hard.

* * *

**A/N:** Final chapter tomorrow. Review please! 


	5. Take 5

**A/N:** Last chapter everyone. Thanks for reading (and reviewing) and have a GREAT Christmas. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha, only my AWESOME Christmas gifts, muhahaha!

* * *

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Take 5

* * *

It was nearly half an hour of calling for a tow truck at six different repair shops before either Kagome or Inuyasha looked out the window. The ground, street, and Inuyasha's car were already covered in two inches of fresh powder.

"This might be a problem," Kagome commented to him. "I don't think a tow truck would come out this late...in that."

Inuyasha nodded grimly. "I think you're right."

"Guess you'll just have to stay here," she said casually, then padded off toward the kitchen section of her apartment. Speaking the answer to his unspoken question.

"You're a very strange girl," he commented, following her. It was the first time he had spoken of such thoughts openly to her. He wasn't much of a talker, and she always seemed to fill the void with idle chatter so as not to make him feel obligated.

Kagome only smiled over at him as she put her tea kettle on the stove. "I know," she replied. "It makes life more fun."

"Why do you say that?"

She shrugged. "My Dad raised me to be honest, instead I'm selectively blunt. I think it's a matter of having a certain level of shame. I don't have many social anxieties."

He leaned against her counter, trying to puzzle her out like she was a problem with a design he was working on. He had puzzled through many in his lifetime, she would be no different. Then, when he was done, his fascination would be over. He could move on and not look back.

Kagome went about her kitchen, pulling two mugs out of the wooden cabinets, then pulling out two packets of something from the cupboard next to it, emptying their contents into the cups. Then she dug two spoons out of a drawer, and grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge. Inuyasha watched her ministrations for a few minutes, but then his attentions wandered through the apartment.

It was a nice loft, huge and airy. Christmas garlands hung around all the windows and poles. Fake snow was sprayed across all the glass, adding an artistic look that he liked. There were a million decorations, small touches that gave the place which would ordinarily seem empty from lack of furniture a sense of self.

A Christmas tree was set up in the far corner of the room, strung up with blinking lights and shiny ornaments. It wasn't a huge tree, and it was kind of scrawny, but it seemed to suit Kagome's Charlie Brown-esque Christmas theme. Then again, he couldn't picture Kagome having any other kind of tree. She was, in a certain essence, just that way.

"I know my place isn't much," she commented, handing him a steaming cup of hot chocolate. "The price is low and I don't need a lot."

"It's perfect," Inuyasha assured her. "It screams you."

She laughed. "Of course it does, I live here."

There was a brief bout of silence until Inuyasha dared to ask a question, the first time he had ever attempted to make a conversation with her of his own accord. Kagome was appropriately shocked, of course.

"When did you move here?"

She had to pause and think. "About...four years ago, I think. Just after I started college. I was in the dorms first semester, but I hated it with such a passion that I _had_ to find myself a place or face death. This place just fell in my lap, and after I moved in, I learned to love it." Kagome paused, sipped, then turned the question around. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"How long have you lived in your apartment?"

"About a year. I moved in after I got my promotion last November."

"Can you afford it now? I mean, since you don't have that job anymore."

He looked at her sharply. "How did you know I don't have another job?"

She shrugged. "Most people don't have other jobs while working crazy Christmas hours."

"Don't you?"

"No." Kagome walked across the room to sit on her windowsill, legs curled beneath her. "I had internships when I was in school, but I graduated in June. So far, I haven't had much luck finding work. I work at a music store, but it's not great money, and I quit so I could do the "elf" thing. It's just touch and go right now."

Inuyasha followed her, sitting casually with his back against the wall, legs stretched out, next to the window. The heated cup was cradled in his hands. "Why did you quit? Our job is only seasonal. What are you going to do for money now?"

"I'm an elf every year," she said with an air of mystery. "And I'll find something. I always do."

He wouldn't let it drop. "Why are you an elf every year?"

Kagome looked down at him. "Why do you care?"

"Call it professional curiosity," he responded, adopting her own mysterious tone.

Kagome shrugged. "I like to think of it as penance."

"For what?" Now his attention was caught.

"For being a horrible daughter," she responded, a hint of something like contempt in her voice. "We all have our reasons for doing what we do."

"What's yours?"

Kagome looked over at him skeptically. Did he really care? Probably not. He was just bored and stuck in her house, so she might as well tell him something about herself. Maybe then he'd lighten up a little. Maybe then he'd be as repulsed by her as her family was, so she'd stop thinking about him.

"My father was in the army," she began, sipping cocoa and sighing. "He'd be away for long periods of time, missing a lot of stuff, but then always come back for Christmas. It was the only holiday that we knew he'd be back for. I guess that's why I love Christmas so much, because of my Dad and how close we were."

"Were?" he prompted when she paused.

"He died when I was fifteen," she explained. "Everyone in my family just...fell apart. Grandpa became more subdued, and seemed to grow older. Mom, she tries to pretend that nothing's wrong, but I hear her crying at night. She's broken on the inside, never bringing herself to talk about Dad at all. Souta, my brother...he's the worst. He became so angry after Dad died, he just shuts himself off. I was the strong one, Daddy's little girl left to carry on for the family."

A fierce anger suddenly pumped through Kagome as she gripped her mug's handle, knuckles turning white. "I paid bills, I cooked and cleaned. I was the one who bought the birthday presents and got groceries and made sure we were still functioning. For two years I was the only one who did anything to keep us alive." She sighed again, running a hand through her hair. "During the day I was the perfect adult, but at night I was an idiot. I drank, I partied...I did a lot of stupid things I never should have done, and I loved every minute of it. I did it so that I could _feel_ like a teenager, and forget how much _I _was hurting, and just stop feeling at all."

"What happened to make you stop?"

She shrugged. "College. I got into a good one, for my music. I made up my mind that I was going to go and get a degree, and stop being stupid. If I was going ot have a future, a different one than the rest of my family, I had to get sober and stop partying. That's why I left the dorms after the first semester, it was too much of a temptation.

"The elf-thing came later, when I was broke at Christmas and I wanted to get a present for my brother. I tried to steal it, but i got caught. The mall officials said they'd let me go if I worked off my debt. I guess they had the Christmas spirit or something. I've just been an elf here ever since."  
"You loved it that much at once, huh?" Truth be told, he was entranced by her story, not knowing if he should believe it as truth or think of it only as a story.

"I _hated_ it the first year," she said with a smile. "The kids were loud and the Santa kept hitting on me and I was scared. But the next year, I came back, and the kids weren't as loud and the Santa was different, and it got a little better. Last year, I met Sango and it was great. This year, I made Miroku come and I met you and everything was...perfect."

"Or it would have been, if there was a better Santa," Inuyasha commented, suddenly feeling guilty for his surly routine as the man in red.

Kagome smiled brightly, almost as bright as her tree winking in the corner. "I thought you were a good Santa, despite the attitude."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

He felt instantly better.

"Are you going to tell me about you now?" she asked, and his mood darkened again.

"What do you mean?"

"I told you my story," she commented. "Are you going to tell me about yours? Your old job...why you hate Christmas, that stuff."

"So this is a bargain of sharing?"

"More like...friendly knowledge," she encouraged. "I promise not to tell anyone."

He looked at her for a long moment, then nodded. He owed her that much, a little of his life's story. "I had this tradition when I was a kid," Inuyasha began, setting the stage. "I'd always be sick on Christmas. Every single year from the time I was one year old. The year I was eight was no different. On Christmas Eve that year, my parents left me at home for a few minutes while they ran across town to drop off some food at the food drive. They did stuff like that, you know? They were just good people. But the roads were icy, and it _was_ Christmas Eve so people were drinking." He paused, swallowing a large draught from his cooling drink. "On the way home, their car was hit by a drunk driver. They were both killed."

Kagome made a small sound in the back of her throat, halfway between a whimper and a sob. He looked up, expecting to see pity in her eyes. Instead, he saw sorrow. Plain, undiluted sorrow. The kind that choked your heart.

"That's why I hate Christmas," he whispered, too struck by the way she looked at him.

She didn't apologize, or offer condolences. Such trivial things made matters worse than they had to be. Instead, she bowed her head in an offering of sad understanding. He felt the pain rise in him again, the loneliness of a little boy who barely got to know his parents before they were gone.

"Christmas," she said quietly, voice choked with anguish, "reminds me so much of my father, but I guess that's why I celebrate it so much. To remember him and relive those moments...and wish he'd walk through the door with a present in his arms, singing Jingle Bells off key." She gave a watery chuckle. "This season is as sad as it is happy."

"A lot of memories," he agreed.

"Good and bad," she added.

"Do you...remember when you said...that you did all those things when you were a teenager...because you wanted to stop feeling?" he asked haltingly.

"Yeah?" she prompted.

"That's the way I've always been. I do a lot of random, stupid things to help me forget that my life has been shit. It's what got me fired from my firm. I was an architect, and a good one too. But then I did the stupid thing of sleeping with my boss's wife, and he caught us and I was fired. That's why I'm a mall Santa."

Kagome didn't pass judgment or make a joke. Instead, she just lifted her mug and sighed, disenchanted. "To being stupid," she toasted.

"To being stupid," he echoed. They clinked their mugs, drank their fill, and passed the night in relative silence.

--------------------------------------------

"Do you get the feeling that Kagome likes Inuyasha?" Sango asked, shrugging on her coat.

"You know, I was thinking that myself," Miroku agreed as he held open the door for her. He had stopped by that evening to pick up Sango and Kohaku from their apartment to head to Kagome's for her party. "She seems smitten."

"I know she was bugging him because of the bet, but still..."

"What bet?"

"She never told you?"

"No. What bet?"

"We made a bet," Sango explained as they reached the car. Kohaku was in the backseat as the couple climbed in the front seats. "She lost, so her terms were that she had twelve days, until Christmas Eve, to give Inuyasha some spirit."

"Kagome lost a bet?"

"Yeah."

"But Kagome _never_ loses a bet!"

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Sango said wryly.

"What was the bet on?" Miroku questioned, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Whether or not you'd hit on another mother before lunch," Sango smiled languidly. "Which you did, naturally."

Miroku stared at her, not starting the car. "Impossible," he finally said, shaking his head and turning the key.

"Why?"

"Kagome is my best friend," he reminded her. "She knows me better than I know myself, and that includes my tastes and habits. If she was wrong over whether or not I'd hit on a woman, she did it purposely."

"But why would she want to lose a bet?"

"I know," Kohaku piped up, smiling widely.

"Oh?" Sango asked, turning to look at him. "And why's that, my little genius?"

"It's obvious," he said with a grin. "You give her something time consuming, like chasing after that Inuyasha guy, which leaves perfect opportunity for you and Miroku to have "alone" time."

There was silence in the car.

"I'm going to kill her!" rang both Sango and Miroku as they pulled into a parking space in front of Kagome's apartment. But by the time they reached the door, and were ushered in by a happy Kagome, and noticed Inuyasha was there--egg-nog in hand--they were too stunned to do much of anything.

Kaede and Shippou came a few minutes later, and the group and ate laughed and watched _A Christmas Story _on the television for a while. It was a wonderful time to be had, really. Everyone was in high spirits. The egg-nog was plentiful. The company was never better.

Before it got to late, presents beneath the scraggly tree were distributed. Sango got a new zoom lens for her camera. Miroku got a new DVD burner for his computer. Shippou got DDR for playstation 2, the game he'd been begging for all year. Kohaku got a new pair of hockey skates. Kaede, a new cook book and baking tray. Then finally, Kagome handed Inuyasha a small box. Inside, nestled among the tissue paper, was a fuzzy Santa hat that looked like it had seen better days.

"Is this some kind of subtle joke?" he asked her with frosty sarcasm.

Kagome laughed. "It was my Dad's," she explained. "Just put it on."

He did, much to his own chagrin at having vowed never to wear one again.

After a little while more of joking and egg-nog, the hour grew late and the guests deemed it time to head home. Kagome hugged them, wished them well, and thanked them for the gifts they had left for her beneath her tree for tomorrow. Sango and Miroku left with Kohaku, soon followed by Kaede and Shippou. She held Inuyasha back.

"I have one more gift for you," she said, slightly blushing.

"Oh lord," he muttered, tugging on the brim of his hat. "I can only imagine what it is."

She punched him on the shoulder. "Relax, it's nothing bad, really. I'm just going to sing you a song." Inuyasha stared at her. She smiled back, forcing him to sit on her windowsill. "Prepare to be dazzled!" she announced, hitting a button on the radio in her kitchen. Catchy Christmas-themed music filled the air.

"Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree for me," Kagome sang, moving with the music. "I've been an awful good girl

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight." Her voice _was_ amazing, he couldn't deny.

He was in trouble.

"Santa baby, an out-of-space convertible too, light blue. I'll wait up for you dear, Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight. Think of all the fun I've missed. Think of all the fellas that I haven't kissed. Next year I could be oh so good, if you'd check off my Christmas list."

She did a little dance around the kitchen, grabbing something off the counter, then made her way toward the window. He gulped, what else was there to do.

"Santa honey, I wanna yacht and really that's not a lot. I've been an angel all year, Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight. Santa cutie, there's one thing I really do need. The deed to a platinum mine, Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight. Santa baby, I'm filling my stocking with a duplex and checks. Sign your 'X' on the line, Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight.

"Come and trim my Christmas tree with some decorations bought at Tiffany's. I really do believe in you. Let's see if you believe in me. Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing. A ring. I don't mean a phone! Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight. Hurry down the chimney tonight."

When she finally reached him, it was the end of the song, and she relieved what she had been holding. A sprig of mistletoe. She smiled. He smiled back. "Hurry down the chimney tonight," she sang quietly, the song dying away. Then she kissed him.

Inuyasha believed in Santa Claus again after that day.

In fact, Christmas became his favorite holiday.

Kagome would always remember that those twelve days of Christmas were the best of her life.

* * *

Fin

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading everyone. Merry Christmas!!!!! 


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